Why Boko Haram Is Thriving In Nigeria's North By Sheikh Gumi

 Nigerian Islamic cleric, Ahmad Gumi, has said that Boko Haram is 100 per cent a Muslim problem, accusing some people in the North of “cooperating with and working to protect them.”

Mr. Gumi said in the current April edition of The Interview, that, “Boko Haram as it is now cannot prosper in Ibadan because the locals will expose them. The same in Enugu. The people agitating for Biafra cannot prosper in the North because they will be exposed.

“We have to understand,” he said, “that these people are from amongst us and that the society was not doing enough to bring these elements out. I can tell you that Boko Haram is 100 per cent a Muslim problem.”

Mr. Gumi, who also described the agitation for Biafra as “analogue,” challenged Muslim leaders to do more to combat Boko Haram.

Commenting on the controversial bill to regulate preaching in Kaduna State, Mr. Gumi said the bill had gone too far and was an infringement on the constitution.

“If you are trying to fight terrorism and extremism,” he said, “you don’t clamp on the freedom of speech, freedom of thought and freedom of propagation of thoughts. These liberties are enshrined in the constitution.”

The Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, had said the bill was an updated version of an existing law required to curtail inflammatory sermons by faith leaders.

Mr. Gumi however said the bill could drive extremism underground.

The cleric also spoke on the military-Shiite clash in Zaria, the ongoing investigation into the $2.1 billion arms scandal involving the former National Securuty Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, and the anti-corruption war of President Muhammadu Buhari’s government.

In this edition, Captain Lola Odujinrin, the Nigerian aviator who could become the first black man to make a successful solo flight around the world this April, also granted his first full-length interview.

“You can only truly chase a dream when you are prepared to sacrifice the world for it,” Mr. Odujinrin said.

The issue also contains interviews with former Lagos State Chief Judge, Justice Ayotunde Phillips; US-based Nigerian basketball prodigy, Temi Fagbenle; and computer scientist-turned-foodie, Nky Iweka, amongst others.